Riley Parker
Name: Riley Parker Gender: Female Age: 16 School: Davison Secondary School Hobbies and Interests: SOTF, tabletop games, puzzles, history, marijuana, debate team Appearance: Riley is not a remarkably pretty girl. At 5’5”, 143 pounds, Riley is perfectly average for a girl her age. Riley has long, straight black hair, which she wears in a ponytail tied loosely at the nape of her neck, with messy bangs over her forehead. Riley’s face is bony and pale, due to her disinterest in outdoor activities. Her cheeks are slightly sunken, and she has a pointed but small nose. Riley is neither chubby nor skinny; she has some fat around her stomach, but she is mostly of average size. She gets little exercise, but she doesn't eat a lot, which balances out more or less. Riley has average ears, but they stick out somewhat. Riley’s most attractive feature is her almond-shaped sea-green eyes, framed by her narrow eyebrows. Riley’s skin tone is tanned, as her parents are descended from Russian immigrants. Riley cares very little for style, especially due to her family’s lack of wealth limiting the number of fancy clothing she can wear. When abducted, Riley wore a forest green sweatshirt, blue jeans and dirty white sneakers. Riley is right-handed. She never wears makeup or jewelry, considering it an unnecessary expense. She tends to have good posture, rarely slouching. Biography: Riley was born to her father Blake and mother Kris Parker in September 19th, 2004, as the youngest of 4 children. Riley grew up in a bustling home with her sister Jamie, now 20; brother Jessie, now 18; and her sister Skylar, 17. While Blake’s job as a computer technician made decent wages, supporting his whole family proved to be too much, and they ended up foreclosing on their larger home and moving into a 2-family apartment when Riley was only 2. Growing up with less money put a strain on the family’s relationships, but Riley learned many valuable lessons from it. Kris, a stay-at-home mom, made a point of teaching her children how to manage money, using her and her husband’s own mistakes as lessons. Riley was a quick student, and to this day retains a degree of miserly spending and practical spending. Riley was given a number of puzzles for her 6th birthday, being cheap and good ways to spend time. Riley loved the time-consuming aspect; it was a good way to spend an afternoon for her, carefully and meticulously assembling pieces, and the triumph upon finishing was always gratifying to her. Riley was drawn into SOTF when she was 11; she used her family’s computer to determine why people often made jokes about her last name. While she’d known of SOTF before, she’d never watched it, and was surprised to learn that Season 1 winner shared her last name. She discovered the legacy of Brandon Parker, and on watching his season was hooked. The combination of drama, survival, and the right touch of bloodshed fascinated Riley, and she is an avid fan to the day. Riley is especially fond of the strategies, often using online sites to discuss TV strategic decisions. Riley is known on most sites as The Competent Parker, and is known for both compelling arguments and a refusal to admit if she is wrong. Riley’s big sister Skylar was something of a gaming fan, and she introduced Riley to tabletop gaming when Riley was 14. Riley loved it for its strategic combat aspects, as she lacked much roleplaying skills. She enjoyed using clever tactics, and favored mages and rogues in that regard. Riley is currently not with any game groups, although she is a member of several online campaigns. At the start of the school year, Riley began to realize she was in no extracurricular activities. Believing that joining these would enhance her chances at getting scholarships, Riley picked the one that interested her most; debate team. Riley enjoyed the tense nature, the excitement, the competitive aspect, and most of all the debating, which Riley was used to from her forays onto SOTF internet forums. Riley, while by no means the sole star debater, is certainly skilled at the task. Riley first tried marijuana recently; she was always a good student, even getting sufficient grades to get into the private school Davison with a scholarship, but lately the stress of keeping up with other students left her frazzled. When an acquaintance allowed her to try pot, she found it surprisingly enjoyable, and while she uses it rarely to avoid being caught, she still uses weed as stress relief and relaxation for when she is extremely tense from school. Riley's other main stress relief is her kitty. Riley has owned a cat named Mary since she was 10, and while Mary is older now, Riley still loves her. Riley was given Mary as a test of responsibility, and she took very good care of her. Riley often works at the ESPCA to care for and play with the cats due to her fondness for the animal. Riley has always been a hard worker in school. Her parents always taught her that hard work and dedication paid off, and she has clung to these words. Riley regularly gets As, with occasional Bs in class, but she works very hard. She has the gift of a naturally good memory, and as such generally breezes past many courses. Riley’s favorite subject is history; the battle tactics, the political intrigue, all of it is extremely fascinating to her. She often uses the internet to research interesting facts about history, and is knowledgeable about many types of trivia. Riley plans to attend college, hoping to become a law major and get a job at a law firm. She believes her practice with debating will aid her in the law business. Riley’s social life is not as successful; Riley’s natural personality is sarcastic, wry, occasionally cynical and overall very hard to get used to for some people. She is a very honest person and very emotionally open and this can be a turnoff to many people. As such, Riley keeps a small but close circle of friends, generally people who are SOTF analysts like her or gamers. Riley also has many people who dislike her due to her personality, but she doesn’t particularly care; in her mind, they only matter until she’s graduated and then they’re gone. Riley’s family life is significantly better; Riley deeply cares for her family. The six of them have a close relationship due to growing up poor, though nowadays the fact that her three older siblings have part-time jobs, and that Jamie got into college on a tennis scholarship, has relieved some of the financial burden. Riley has always been closest with Skylar; the two have had a tight-knit relationship, being the closest in age and sharing many hobbies. Riley always looked up to Jamie and Jessie, but now that they are both working on college-related tasks, they have started drifting apart. Riley has always been closer to her mother than to her father; this has not changed, and while they enjoy each other’s company he tends to have trouble engaging with her and finding topics of mutual interest. Riley as a person is best described as a pragmatist. She has little interest in social niceties, and while she uses etiquette and kind words when talking to a friend, she can be harsh and blunt to people she dislikes. If she doesn’t like you, it will show. Riley is intelligent, and has a sharp and sarcastic wit. She is known for this on many online internet forums, though she avoids being outright caustic so as not to receive punishment. Riley, while generally aware of her weaknesses, has a bit of an arrogant streak when it comes to SOTF TV; she considers herself an expert, and she will not back down in debates over SOTF, because she is always sure she can win. Riley is by no means aggressive, irritable or volatile, however. She is perfectly content with letting others go about their business. But if someone can manage to push Riley's patience far enough, it can set her off and lead to a verbal lashing. Advantages: Riley has in-depth understanding of SOTF and strategy, which when combined could give her a critical advantage. She’s smart, a good planner, and very practical. Riley is skilled at debating and arguing a point, and she could use this to her advantage. Disadvantages: Riley’s sarcastic personality can be alienating to people who aren’t used to her. Riley is semi-dependent on the use of marijuana to stay calm, and while she can manage without it, she will struggle to deal with it's absence in such a difficult situation. Riley’s biggest weakness is her overconfidence and belief she knows more about SOTF than she really does. Designated Number: Honey Badgers 3 (HB3). ---- Designated Weapon: OTF Scarab Mentor Comment: "Withdrawal can be some serious shit, even if she isn't as bad as some. If she goes ballistic and gets her head smashed in for it, I won't be surprised." Evaluations Handled By: 'Espional '''Kills: ' None 'Killed By: ' Pia Malone 'Collected Weapons: '''OTF Scarab (designated weapon) '''Allies: ' 'Enemies: 'Lukas Graves, Taylor DeVasher 'Mid-game Evaluation: ' 'Post-Game Evaluation: ' '''Memorable Quotes: Other/Trivia *Riley's middle name is Alexis according to her handler. Threads Below is a list of threads that contain Riley, in chronological order Sandbox: *A Dispute of Tastes *Race to the Finish (Before you drop dead) *Choices (And the hardships they apply) *Getting Work Done *Showtime SOTF-TV: *Opening Act *Not Your Scheduled Programming *Summer Bitch VS Cherry Boy *Once Upon a Time *Plot Twist *CAVE CAVE DEUS VIDET *Fame Has a Price Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Riley. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! *Oh, Riley. I had such a strong vision for Riley before TV2. I was gonna make her a big, over-the-top player who had over-the-top scenes and over-the-top personality. I also wanted to write a really smart, tactical player, and I thought I could do that with Riley. Then the game started, and I found that it was nigh-impossible for me to really do both of those things. I was so conflicted between "smart player" and "over-the-top player" that I ended up mixing them and making a mess of it. I'm fond of her voice, but I don't think I had the right mindset and strong concept to write her at the time, especially given my mental health at that point. I like Riley on some level but I really wish I'd had a more cohesive plan for her. Also yes I unroll-killed her. Sorry about that. - Espional *Riley's an interesting case. I feel like TV fans can be difficult to work with on a conceptual level, but Riley does nicely sidestep at least some of that in that it's explicitly noted that she knows less than she thinks she does; this allows her to have the attitude she does without slip-ups feeling inappropriate to her character. I thought her Sandbox was fairly solid, and did like the subtle normalcy with which SOTF is often treated, though I wasn't sold on the one-shot-as-Sandbox-conclusion device; it veered a little into stating explicitly what could better be picked up via context. I do think that Riley's time in the game ran into a few issues. I really wish there'd been a bit more development when it came to her choice to attempt to play right away, either in her early posts or in her Sandbox; even in the TV-verse, I feel instant acceptance is a big jump, since watching something and doing it are very different things. I do like that Riley's narrative undercut her readiness at points, but I think the progression of her arc was a bit quick nonetheless, especially because she then backs off and vacillates a bit over just what her style of play will be (which is I think what Espi's talking about above with regards to having trouble deciding what sort of character Riley was). Actually, looking at it a bit more, I think a major component of my trouble with Riley was that we had a good idea of how she sounded, of what she did, but we really could've used some more on who she was. This made her swings between player and relative normalcy more jarring, especially since most of her narrative revolved around the game in some fashion. This isn't too different from what plagued a lot of early TV2 characters: the game is an important part of each character's story, but not its sum total. Riley's posts tended to be hyper-focuse don the game, but that left other bits (what she wanted to go home to, how she felt about her changing situation, the emotional toll and how it related to what she'd experienced in her life thus far) unstated. As to the unrolled death, I see nothing wrong with that as a general device. I do think there are a few ways in which a certain discontent seeps through in the post, mostly in how it pulls back from Riley's perspective, but honestly in most situations I'd far rather see a handler end their character's story on their own terms than drag it out without passion, go inactive, or hand it off to someone else. - MurderWeasel Category:SOTF-TV Category:Characters